Chapter 25

Beep~ Beep~

In a completely white room, sat down a girl peeling apples. Besides her was a man sleeping soundly.

He had a cannula on his cubital fossa, also known as the crook of the elbow, attached through a long tube to a nutrition bag. The bag had water dripping slowly.

He also had a sensor attached to his index finger connecting it to a pulse and pressure monitor. The man looked thin and frail to a point that made him look many years older than he was.

There was a TV on the opposite wall with the news channel in the background, but the volume was off, and the girl wasn't watching.

Knock~ Knock~

The girl beside him looked at the door and said, "Come in"

In came two people, the one at the front was a pretty lady with tanned skin and dark-brown hair, behind her was a handsome man with black hair.

Even though both were good-looking people, the dark circle around their eyes made their charm die down a notch.

The woman was Fares' mother and the man was his father, every day after work they'd visit their son at the hospital in case anything arises.

It has been so long already, since their son collapsed, with no sign of waking up. The worst part was that nobody, not even the doctors, knew what was wrong with him. His body is completely fine, other than a little muscle wasting from the lack of use.

"You're still here?" The woman asked.

The girl looked at her with tired black eyes then said, "He was too good to me, I just never noticed till this happened. "

Her eyes began to tear a little, but she tried to hold it in. She must stay strong, she thought.

"Listen, dear, these things happen all the time you've got a life to live. You're still young and pretty. I am sure if he was here he'd have told you, to live a better life." Samira said patting the girl's shoulder.

"But mom, I still think it was my fault this happened." The girl said, not able to hold it anymore, she broke out crying.

Yes, she was Fares' younger sister Layla. She spends most of her time with her brother telling him what has been going on outside.

Samira hugged her tightly saying, "Shhh honey, don't be like that. The doctors already said it wasn't your fault. If it was something that easy, they would have probably found an answer by now."

"But…But…" Layla couldn't complete a sentence before she broke into another fit of cries while hugging her mother.

Adam came to her side patting her head in an attempt to calm her down.

She was bawling her eyes out for a long time before she finally calmed down.

Soon, she composed herself a little more. While wiping her tears, she noticed something on the TV.

"Dad, could you raise the volume on that TV a little?" Layla said with a croaked voice from crying.

Adam then noticed the TV and grabbed the remote to raise the volume.

[BREAKING NEWS, reports had shown that the most recent archaeological expedition to one of the Ancient Egyptian tombs ever known, has gone astray.]

The pretty news lady said with a serious look on her face.

[During the search for Queen Nefertiti's burial ground, which has been causing scientists to walk around in circles for a few decades, scientists have finally discovered the site of burial.]

[However, different from their expectations, inside the burial grounds something unexpected happened. Let's all see the events that went on, in this video taken by one of the excited new archaeologists.]

As the pretty news lady finished her sentence, the screen changed. Showing a black screen that stayed for less than a second, and then zoomed out to show a young man in his late twenties smiling a goofy smile at the camera.

"Oh, it has already started recording?" He said.

"Hello there everybody, I am Zennith Mitch, one of the archaeologists in Professor Ashtar's team."

"Today after a long time we have finally pinpointed the site of Queen Nefertiti's burial ground. It was said in old records that she had disappeared days before she died, and nobody could ever find her body."

"But today, we believe we have found it in this burial ground." He then turned the camera to show a few people setting up a good deal of different equipment in front of a rectangular-shaped tablet in the ground.

The tablet had dozens of inscriptions on it, of different sizes and shapes. A 60 years old archaeologist with a short white beard and a brown felted wool hat.

The old archaeologist rubbed his beard as he was lost in thought reading the inscriptions and taking notes of them.

"Professor Ashtar, what did you find out?" Zennith asked as he got close to the Professor with the camera still showing his 'deep in thoughts face'.

"Hmmm, the inscriptions say 'For all of those looking for me, return. For I, the Queen, have already fulfilled my duty in life and protected the world. If it is greed driving you, then return for this is a sacred ground where secrets must stay hidden. However, if it was a need that drives you, then use it wisely, may you be the one to protect the world. Beware, Everyone shall be tested.'"

"Wow, there must be some nasty stuff hidden in here for her to say something like that," Zennith said after hearing what the Professor transcribed.

"I don't think this is a good idea." The Professor said in deep concern while stroking his beard.

"What are you saying Professor, you've spent almost all of your life searching for this, now's your chance," Zennith answered with a face of pure curiosity of what could be hidden in there.

"It is exactly because I have devoted 40 years of my life searching for the burial grounds, that I think this is a bad idea. I have read records, hell I have even seen events where the Pharaoh's Curse affected or killed my colleagues. And neither of these ever said anything about trials.

In Ancient Egypt, trials had been carried out to seek out only the worthy, while the unworthy get annihilated and their family dies in the most gruesome deaths.

Not many people know about this, as trials had always been carried by Queens and hidden from Kings. That is because the Queen always worked in the shadows." The Professor said in a narrative voice.

"But that was long ago, it has been several millennia since the last Pharaoh Royal Family member died. I don't think it could hurt anyone. Hell, I don't even believe in curses." Zennith said impatiently.

He was very young, if he did discover Queen Nefertiti's burial grounds, he would finally be famous. And then the money would come raining down on him.

"Young man, impatience itself is a curse. It may not be like the Pharaoh's Curse, but it affects its owner in the worst way possible. This may not only affect you but the whole of humanity."

"AHH, I've had enough of this, old man, I am going in," Zennith said, and he continued forwards in the tablet's direction.

After by-passing it, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and stared into space with white eyes.

"Zennith? ZENNITH!!!" The Professor screamed at the young man to stop him, but it was too late.

The ground began shaking with cracks opening underneath them, swallowing their equipment and a few of the researchers. Cries would've been heard if the ground wasn't shaking that much.

The Professor held on to the tablet tightly watching what was going on, "Oh no, this is the end. It is the end." He kept repeating to himself.

"Fools!! I have warned you, but you didn't heed my warning. I curse you, I curse you all." An eerie voice kept echoing throughout the valley.

Right then a wave of energy passed through the air knocking everyone out and dropping the camera onto the ground cutting the feed.

Everything fell silent, at this moment the whole world fell silent. Nobody knew what that was, however, everybody believed what was coming was worse than anything they could've imagined.